December... Before the Storm. Dec. 4th and 13th, 2020.

 We're having a full-on blizzard as I write this. We're supposed to get a foot of snow in Boston and it's cold as hell. Whatever, it's December. But...

On Friday, December 4th, it was mild and sunny. We made a last minute decision to walk through the dens on Andrea's lunchbreak to see if anyone was out grabbing some Vitamin D. It was a long shot but if anyone would be out, it would be our pal Blister, who would still be recovering from the frostbite he incurred during an earlier cold-snap. And there he was, in the waning sunlight.

It looks like he's been doing everything right... the scarring is much better and he looks to be in pretty good flesh. I hope we see him again in the Spring. By the way, that's 33 consecutive months photographing a Massachusetts snake.

We checked the dens again on Friday the 11th. It was cool and breezy and the sun was too intermittent to encourage anyone to peek out. But the following Sunday, the 13th, it was steady enough to get us out on an unplanned walk before running errands. It had rained heavily the day before as well, so this plump Redback wasn't a total surprise.

Blister's den-site was unoccupied but Sly's old den had a lovely, bright Garter right on top, enjoying some afternoon sun. It was only in the mid-50s but the sun was beautiful.

You just don't see that kind of beauty too often in December.

Over at the Cottonwood Dens, we got the surprise of the year.

When we're in Florida or Arizona, we often wonder "what will our Holy Shit Moment be?" A Burm? A feisty Scut? Since we've been confined to Massachusetts all year, we haven't had any real opportunity for Holy Shit Moments©️ but we had one that Sunday.

The last thing one would expect to see on a cool December afternoon is a Milk Snake, but there was one. He was basking (weird enough right there) and looked magnificent.

He was very alert and took offense to our presence when we got closer for photos. We let him be and thanked him for a happy surprise.

We only saw two more animals that day... a double flip of a Redback and Leadback. A fine way to end this year's blogging, should it actually be the end.

As for sea turtle rescue, we have only been called once this year and it was on a work-day and we had to decline. It has been a huge year... over 900 cold-stunned turtles and over 700 of them alive! They're doing an amazing job this year and though we'd love to have been a part of it, we're realists and can see that they know what they're doing and really don't need us coming in from the main-land in these times of Covid.